An Inconvenient Lie of Convenience
by cosmictrap
Summary: After their break up, Jess finds herself facing an unexpected situation. Things still haven't gone back to normal between them and finding herself unable to face Nick, Jess comes up with a plan that's completely crazy. Jess knows it, Cece knows it. But she decides to give it a shot. Her plan seems to be going well enough at first, but doesn't take long for things to go awry.


**A/N:** **I'm feeling really low for whatever reasons so I ended up re-writing a fic I've been sitting on for quite a while. I wasn't going to publish new ones till my old ones are finished but fuck that rule. I can't take this anymore.**

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 _Prologue_

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 _25th March, 2014_

It's been about three weeks since Nick and Jess broke up. They don't talk much anymore, but there's some effort to move on. They are desperate for things to go back to "normal", so they have just started to mutter a greeting or two, and on days when it hurt just a little less, they even smile at each other. The pain lingers though, the break up is still fresh in their minds and there is still a cold sort of a distance between them.

One morning, Nick wakes up to the sound of Jess throwing up in the bathroom. Frowning, he realizes that it's quite early in the morning. He can't help the concern he feels and it takes every ounce of strength he has to not leap out of the bed to check on her. He isn't sure if he could go, or even if they were there yet.

When he hears her footsteps, he forces himself to stop thinking, because as crazy as it may sound, he worries that she might hear his thoughts. So he waits for the sound of her bedroom door to shut, but it doesn't. He can now hear furious whispers, and he can't make out a single word. After that, there's just silence, and he hears her pacing in the hallway. He knows she's agitated about something. It's driving him crazy that he couldn't - _shouldn't -_ go out.

Less than 20 minutes later, he hears a sudden change of pace as she hurries towards the living area, and he hears the front door click open. There are two sets of footsteps now, and he wonders who it could be this early in the morning. The footsteps hurry towards the bathroom, and suddenly, the loft falls quiet, and he allows himself to fall back to sleep.

In the bathroom, Cece is nervously waiting outside the toilet stall for Jess. Time seems to have slowed a little bit as she anxiously bites down on her lip. She fleetingly thinks of punching Jess's grumpy roommate to pass time; she's angry at him for breaking her bestfriend's heart. She knows she's probably being biased, and in all likelihood, he was hurting too. She knows he loves her, and that makes her madder, because she just couldn't see the point of so much pain when the solution was quite simple.

She hears the bathroom stall unlock and she brings her attention back to Jess. When she steps out, she's holding three pregnancy tests in her hands. She says nothing and carefully places them on the sink, and looks at Cece worriedly.

Three minutes pass.

"I can't look," Jess whispers, but she looks anyway, Cece peering over her shoulder.

They both gasp at the same time, and Jess's hand comes to her stomach. She doesn't say anything and stands very still, and Cece starts to worry. Even more so when she sees the familiar crazy light enter her bestfriend's eyes.

"You need to tell Nick," says Cece softly.

Jess shakes her head. "No."

"But Jess, you have to! He's going to find out sooner or later!"

"Technically…" stars Jess, and Cece knows that Jess is about to say something very ridiculous.

"...I'll only start showing in my 4 month, right?"

"Approximately, yes," says Cece warily. She has an inkling as to where Jess is going with this, and she doesn't like it one bit.

"And even then, I can still hide it for a bit and-"

" _Hide it!?"_ says Cece incredulously, and though she had a feeling it'd be something like this that Jess would say, hearing it said out loud makes it sound even more stupid. "That's just-"

"No, hear me out," Jess pleads, and Cece sighs; a sign for her to go on. "It's the fifth month that'll prove to be a problem. Maybe I'll leave during the fourth month. I'll make up some excuse and go to Portland for the rest of the pregnancy. Have my baby there, and when I come back, I'll say that I adopted the child."

"Jessica Christopher Day!" Cece sighs in exasperation. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my entire life! Pregnancy isn't _just_ about the baby _showing!_ There's morning sickness, eating habits, cravings and so many other things to be kept in mind! _Mood swings_! And I won't be _at_ the loft with you, and I can't just _leave_ you with three men who don't know of your pregnancy! What if something were to happen to you! Or to the _baby_!? Jess, I will not take this. Nope. No, no, no and _no._ No, no-"

"Cece-"

"-No. No, sir. Why don't you just move in with me and-"

"That'll make them suspicious," Jess mutters.

" _That's not really a concern, Jess!"_ Cece snaps. "I don't give a shit about them finding out or getting "suspicious"! I care about the wellbeing of my bestfriend and my godchild-"

"I didn't _say_ you're the godmother," says Jess jokingly.

Cece raises her eyebrows. "I'm _not_ the godmother?"

"Of course, you are!" says Jess, chuckling lightly.

Cece shakes her head at her. "I don't understand how you can make jokes at a time like this! Jess, even if you get all the way to month number 4 without arousing suspicion, how will you just up and leave to Portland? What about work? And Jess, _someone needs to take care of you_. And Nick needs to know and- "

"Please, Cece. I'll-I'll figure it out somehow," says Jess pleadingly. "I don't…. I _can't_ tell, Nick. I just can't."

Jess knows that this is impractical, but this feels like it would be so much easier. Easier than talking to Nick about it, easier than trying to come to an agreement with "how it was going to work". She couldn't even look Nick in the eye, let alone try to talk to him about their _child_. Especially not with the way things ended still hovering over them. At the back of her mind, she knew she was being crazy and that this was ridiculous, but it still felt like an easier solution than going and talking to Nick about this.

When Cece tries to argue, Jess interjects again. "Alright, tell you what. How about we give it a month, and if I can't handle it, I'll move out? Stay with you?"

"But you _need_ to tell him."

"No."

"He'll be pissed," says Cece slowly. "He'll get really, _really_ angry."

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him," shrugs Jess confidently.

Cece nods defeatedly but knows that things never ever go the way they were planned. Ever. This time, she's counting on it because her pregnant best friend is crazy and because she is worried about leaving her by herself in the company of an ex who is doing his best to avoid her (and also happens to have a short temper on occasions) and two men were now awkward around their best friend's ex-girlfriend.

These were going to be a long 8 months.

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 **A/N: I don't want to give spoilers but just give this fic time. You'll see.**


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